Nature Camp, 2018

Curatorial project which took place at Human Resources on November 25, 2018 as a closing celebration for Martabel Wasserman’s solo exhibition Seashell Aesthetics.

Martabel Wasserman’s essay “Seashell Aesthetics: Nature-Camp in the Era of Expanded Identity and Shrinking Resources” names a movement in process. Camp tropes and fluorescent aesthetics are being used by artists to process the way humans commodify, appropriate, relate to and destroy the perceived separateness of the natural world.

Ecological themes speak to post-binary identities, as well as the reemergence of the spiritual within popular culture. Exhibitions like Various Small Fires’ Hecate and evenings like Human Resource’s Brujaja remind us of witchcraft’s (re)emerging place in contemporary society--outsiders are encouraged to present their empowered transformations of our bleak reality, offering alchemical solutions to mundane problems.

The Nature Camp movement is a cousin of the “LA Art Witch,” one that finds roots in the most ancient of realities: the natural world. Inspired by the ecstatic self of the cactus, crystal, sea lion, and of course the seashell; practitioners of Nature-Camp are of the elements, spiritually present and bending realities to reflect their truths, but packaged for those who speak the language of late capitalism. This event honors and celebrates the magic and incredible ingenuity of these artists.

Curator - Artists Edgar Fabián Frías and Michelle Antonisse worked together with co-curator Sarah Marie Elisabeth Bachelier to exhibit the work of Nature-Camp practitioners with an evening of performance art and immersive installations.

Participating artists included:

Sarah Zucker

Saewon Oh

Yunuen Rhi

Estela Sanchez

Joshua Thomen

Thaddeus Clemens Ward Pedisich

Shelby Driscoll

Claire Donoghue

Hannah K Johnson

Edgar Fabián Frías

Michelle Antonisse